Anti-Flag Address Charlottesville Racism in New Song ‘Racists’

Punk rock veterans Anti-Flag have released a new track "Racists" in the wake of the recent violence in Charlottesville, Va. The song is running independent of a new record as of now, and is the group's first new music since their 2015 full-length album, American Spring.

Of the track and recent events in Charlottesville, the band stated the following:

"We stand in solidarity with those fighting racism and fascism in the streets of Charlottesville and beyond. We believe it is time for the removal of all monuments to the confederacy and the racism for which they stand. We must put these symbols of white supremacy into places where the proper context can be provided for what they actually are; outdated, backwards, and antithetical to what we believe the values of humanity should be. It is past time to have real conversations on systemic racism and America's history of it. There are museums memorializing the Holocaust all across Europe, while America continues to try to hide from its racist and murderous past and present."

The song is a solid reminder just how political and incendiary Anti-Flag can get. The band doesn't just go after the outward kinds of racism seen in Charlottesville: the out and forward sort of white supremacy exhibited by the KKK and the like. The group also targets the subtle mechanisms of racism that fly under the radar, the way words like "thug" have replaced the n-word for some.

Musically, everything flows together excellently, the group not sacrificing their super-catchy punk for their message. The band's flag is firmly planted in the ground, and they're still taking on political injustices whenever they see fit. Hear Anti-Flag's new "Racists" above!

Anti-Flag are currently on tour in Europe, but will return stateside for dates this fall. See all of their scheduled stops her.